"Plus" service Dining Plan Review

[mariza]

I'm really torn on the dining plan, but overall would say that it was probably worth it for this trip, though not sure I would do it again. We got a mailed offer for Free dining, so that also tips the scale in my "pro" column, not sure how I'd feel if we paid for it.
I really didn't like the pressure of deciding where to eat several weeks (months) in advance and since we were not getting park hoppers, that also meant trying to figure out which parks we would be going to every day. Some days we got hungry earlier than our reservations and some days we weren't so hungry but didn't want to give up something we booked. I did find that it was more than enough food for us and had 8 snack credits left on our last day. Like others mentioned we ended up getting rice crispy treats to take home as souvenirs.

I had 2 cases of water shipped directly from Costco.com to the Pop Century for a total of $16.xx, this way we didn't waste snack credits on water. I brought 2 of the kids Funtainer Thermoses with us. Every morning DH would fill the Thermos with ice and a bottle of water. We then took about 6-8 bottles in a backpack to the park and filled the thermos from the bottles as needed. (this plan would probably not be as easy without a stroller to lug the bottles, they get heavy!)
The meal plan includes a Quick Service meal which comes with a drink and dessert and a Table service meal as well as a snack each day. We dont eat dessert after every meal, so when we got QS it was usually at the hotel (Pop Century) so what we would do instead of cake or some dessert, we'd get a yogurt or fruit bowl and a juice or Gatorade for our drink. I generally only drink water and coffee, so we saved the juices and fruit/yogurt to give the kids a quick breakfast in the hotel room on days we didn't have a TS breakfast booked. It worked out really well. Also, we bought 2 refillable mugs for our coffee and DH's soda's.

Restaurants:
Day 1: TS at Hollywood & Vine
We had lunch here our first day, it was a Star Wars weekend, so I don't know if that was a factor but I found the food to be mediocre at best. The waitress was wonderful, the characters were ok. Handy Manny is the only one my kids really know and he interacted the least amount of time. I'm glad we didn't pay out of pocket for this and would probably not go back here.

QS at Pop Century: The food here is what you would expect from a food court, it was fine. The only problem I had with it was that many times we would come back from the park and DH would take the kids right up to the room and I'd get dinner for us to bring back to the room. There are several "stations" that serve different types of food and of course we all like different things so some nights I had to wait in 3 different lines to get everyone's food, then another line to check out. It was a PITA, but the one time I sent DH to do it, he messed up the meal plan (didn't get everything that was included) so I didn't trust him to get food anymore!

Day 2: Breakfast at Crystal Palace. Food was fresh with some good variety. Character interaction with Pooh & friends was well organized and very good. The kids enjoyed this one very much!
QS: Pop Century for dinner (see day 1)

Day 3: Akershus lunch
I LOVED this lunch! I was really nervous because it gets some pretty bad reviews on sites like tripadvisor.com, but I thought the food was fresh, and there was something for everyone. Keep in mind though, my parents are from Central Europe so a cold deli buffet is something I'm used to. For our entrees I got the roast chicken with risotto which was tender and juicy and had a great cheese (but not too cheesy) sauce. DH got the Venison sausage which he did say was a little dry but he still enjoyed it. He got a bowl of Cauliflower soup that had a hint of mint that was out of this world. I enjoyed it so much that I asked for the recipe (they never did send it to me though ) The selection of kids meals was not very good, DS got a hot dog I think and we got DD ravioli that she didn't eat because she slept right through lunch!
QS: Pop Century again

Day 4: Tusker House breakfast
I really liked this one, they had tons of variety with lots of pastry, eggs, breakfast meats and my favorite - cheese blintzes
Character interaction was great and very well organized. The location is good too, its right before the Safari, so DH let the table at 9AM to run over and get fast passes for the Safari for later that morning.
QS: Pop Century again

Day 5: QS at Pizza Planet
Food was ok, lines were crazy long and the server would not let me leave carrying 3 beers alone (DH left me to get silverware and napkins and deliver food to the tables) I was pretty PO'd since I had just seen a boy that literally looked to be about 10 years old walk off carrying a beer, but they would not let me carry my 3 even though they had just seen DH and SIL standing there with me. She gave me some excuse about state law doesn't allow them to serve more than 2 at a time to an individual and I repleid that I was pretty sure it also didst allow them to serve 10 year olds. A guy behind even piped up to say he saw & thought the same thing! So I had to make 2 trips for our beers, annoying. Every lunch came with an entree, a drink and a dessert. DH & kids got pizza and Darth Vader cupcakes and I got a salad and cupcake. We could have easily got away with having the kids share a meal, they threw most of theirs away. Even the cupcakes, they were ginormous! All 4 of us could have eaten one they were so big and rich. My salad was good and a good size, oh and DH's pizza came with a small salad as well. I would say overall, it was a good value but definitely you can share meals here.

Dinner, QS at Pop Century

Day 5: Since we ate only QS meals yesterday we booked 2 TS for this day.
Lunch was at Liberty Tavern. Food was good, but it was a hot day and it is very filling, so much of the food here was wasted and we left without getting dessert even though it was included in the dining plan. I got a pasta dish, good, but very filling. Kids got Mac n Cheese (always a winner) and DH got the Turkey which he enjoyed, but wanted to take a nap after
Liberty Tavern was a last minute add-on reservation and not something we booked originally. We canceled our TS meal the day before so we could hang out with DH's family that met us at Disney, but we didn't want to "waste" a TS meal. We did get seated right away even though we checked in a little early and the service overall was great here.

Dinner: Chef Mickey's. The food had a decent variety, but was just ok. The kids liked the Mac n Cheese, I liked the carving station. Waitress was ok, character interaction is what really made it worthwhile for us. And the dessert table. Oh.my.gosh. the little baby key lime tarts and baby sized cheesecake were so yummy. Good thing we skipped dessert at lunch

Overall, I am happy we did the dining plan because I did not realize before we left how much my kids would get into meeting characters and getting autographs. For me, that made the dining plan worth it as we would have NEVER paid OOP for all those character meals. It did make it a little weird though in terms of dictating our schedules and working around when DH's family came to meet us.
For example, DH's sister and her DH and DD were going to try to get in to Chef Mickey's with us, but when they got there and saw the prices they decided it wasn't in their budget. They went to the little cafe next door and then went up to the monorail where it looks down into Chef Mickey's and watched us eat and sent us text messages during dinner. It was awkward and uncomfortable and made me feel bad that I didn't think to at least offer to bring DN with us and pay for her dinner.

All in all, the dining plan worked out for us on this trip, but unless we get a great free offer again, I think we will skip it in the future and just book some character breakfasts.

[egoldber]

Thanks for the review!

I think we will skip it in the future and just book some character breakfasts.

This is what we do. I don't like having to know where we'll be on what days months in advance. So the DDP is just not for us.

[mariza]

Beth, I remember you saying that when I was in planning phase and thought of you often when we had to wait for our reservation time to roll around! I think that's why DH liked the breakfast reservations, because we had the rest of the day "open". Do you ever do the QS plan? I like that it includes the refillable mugs, but not sure that it would be worth it, what do you think.

[egoldber]

I have not done the QS plan. I read somewhere (maybe mousesavers.com ?) that it really doesn't save you any money. My kids, for example, often split an adult QS entree (like a pizza) and then I supplement it with snacks I bring in (bananas, grapes, etc.). My younger DD drinks soymilk, which is not always easy to find although it is available in some locations, so I typically bring in beverages for her anyway.

Our preferred reservation is a late-ish lunch. We typically like to eat breakfast in the room and then have a hearty snack around 10/10:30 and a lunch at 1/1:30. But we don't eat TS every day. Younger DD is not great in restaurants, even at WDW, so I can typically only stand to do it a couple times per trip!

[bisous]

Interesting!

Our experience was so different (but I went adults only!). I really enjoyed almost all of the QS restaurants that we did in the parks with the big exception of Pizza Planet. The lines, the food, the NOISE! Yuck!

We stayed at POP but never did their dining. I agree the drinks and desserts seem like overkill but DH and I enjoyed our splurge. We were initially worried about "not enough food" but that tended to be not a problem AT ALL!

[AnnieW625]

Awesome review. I am planning for our future trip for 2013 or 2014 budget wise (yes I am a nutty planner type, but can't handle planning food out three months in advance either; go figure!) that esp. if we stay off property or can buy points for a DVC condo or suite with a kitchenette that we will most likely only eat a character breakfast, and then a character dinner on the last night we are there. Unless dining is free I'd much rather do things on my own, but then who really knows how easy that is too and how much money we'd save by having food shipped or have to get it on our own.

[mariza]

Interesting!

Our experience was so different (but I went adults only!). I really enjoyed almost all of the QS restaurants that we did in the parks with the big exception of Pizza Planet. The lines, the food, the NOISE! Yuck!

We stayed at POP but never did their dining. I agree the drinks and desserts seem like overkill but DH and I enjoyed our splurge. We were initially worried about "not enough food" but that tended to be not a problem AT ALL!

You are right about the crowds and the noise, but we took our food and ate outside so once we got out of line I as happy to get out of there! I liked my salad and DH doesn't really complain about food as long as he has a full belly

[JTsMom]

Sounds like overall, it went pretty well! Glad you had a fun time.

[egoldber]

with the big exception of Pizza Planet. The lines, the food, the NOISE! Yuck!

LOL! My kids love Pizza Planet. We usually eat upstairs and at off hours (a little early or a little late) so it isn't *quite* as bad.

[TwinFoxes]

Ok, I'm dying to know why you put bottled water into thermoses, instead of water fountain water, or water from soda fountains, or even from your room. Does WDW have icky water? I'm asking in all seriousness.